Panama City Beach lighthouse casts shadow on city's plans

Published: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 at 08:15 PM.

While Meeks admitted to liking the city’s design better, he made no indication of completely scrapping Miracle Strip’s plans. He also wanted feedback from Panama City quickly.

“I stress the importance that we are at the go point and should start moving the first of next week,” Meeks said. “If they want to do a deal, we need to move fairly quickly, because it’s not like once we start we can stop in the middle of it.”

PANAMA CITY — Rumblings of Panama City Beach getting its own lighthouse adjacent to Pier Park has Panama City commissioners shifting their plans.

“There hasn’t been a lighthouse built in 60 years, yet we are going to have two now within 10 miles of each other,” Mayor Greg Brudnicki said Tuesday at a City Commission meeting. “I would hate to know there would be two built and water down our project.”

Hearing a request Tuesday for direction on the Marina Redevelopment Project, commissioners learned owners of Miracle Strip at Pier Park, which is expanding, already have designs for their own beacon — and they are at a “go point” in their project, according to co-owner Teddy Meeks.

Meeks said his wife, Jenny, and he started plans four years ago, and “more than anything it is an icon of the beach, a photo-op and a place where people could go up and get a good view,” he said, differentiating between the functions of the two lighthouses. The city lighthouse would be an approved nautical aid by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Meeks was expecting a development order for the construction Tuesday morning, he said. It is planned for the northeast corner of their property and — though current plans include an elevator, platform and a beacon light — it would be “strictly ornamental,” he said.

“That’s a different ball game than what they’re trying to do,” Meeks said of the city. “Honestly it may be watered down, but we would water each other’s down.”

City commissioners are not contractually obligated to their lighthouse plans. Momentum stalled in August after bids for construction came back at about $1.6 million, nearly double the anticipated sum of $780,000.

Commissioner John Kady had been working with the city’s engineering department to cut engineering cost for the Marina Park portion of the marina redevelopment, which includes the lighthouse. Kady said the interest of the private sector validates the business analysis submitted by the Panama City Lighthouse Board, anticipating the profitability of a lighthouse as a tourist attraction.

“I think it’s a cornerstone of the project,” Kady said.

Kady not only wanted to keep the lighthouse in the city’s plans but attempt to use Miracle Strip’s plans, in conjunction with the city’s, to find a combination of the two designs and keep costs down for the downtown marina project.

Brudnicki agreed.

“There is a hybrid that needs to be put on our marina, and they really don’t need to do one,” he said. “I think we can make that happen.”

Miracle Strip’s owners have a backup plan for their lighthouse. It consists of basically stripping it of any function, which would save them money on building expenses.

“It would be strictly photo-op type stuff,” Meeks said. “It wouldn’t even be open to the public.”

While Meeks admitted to liking the city’s design better, he made no indication of completely scrapping Miracle Strip’s plans. He also wanted feedback from Panama City quickly.

“I stress the importance that we are at the go point and should start moving the first of next week,” Meeks said. “If they want to do a deal, we need to move fairly quickly, because it’s not like once we start we can stop in the middle of it.”

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